Ashanti, Eminem and Nelly lead the list of nominees for the 30th annual American Music Awards, organizers announced Tuesday.
Murder Inc.'s rising new star will vie for five trophies — Favorite New Artist and Favorite Album in the Pop/Rock and Hip-Hop/R&B categories and Favorite Hip-Hop/R&B Female — on January 13 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Eminem and Nelly will compete against each other for four awards in the Favorite Male and Favorite Album in the Pop/Rock and Hip-Hop/R&B categories.
Pink, B2K, Linkin Park, Creed, Enrique Iglesias, Celine Dion, Nappy Roots and country stars the Dixie Chicks, Alan Jackson and Toby Keith all will compete for two awards each.
"American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson and Puddle of Mudd will take on Ashanti in the Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist category, while B2K and Nappy Roots will compete against her for Favorite Hip-Hop/R&B New Artist. Alicia Keys won both awards last year (see "Alicia Keys, Destiny's Child, Aaliyah Excel At AMAs").
Ja Rule, Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige, Outkast, Ludacris, Shakira, Vanessa Carlton, P.O.D., Nickelback, Marc Anthony, Sheryl Crow, Five for Fighting and Jars of Clay are among the artists nominated for one award.
"Lilo & Stitch," "The Scorpion King" and "Spider-Man" will compete for Favorite Soundtrack. A complete list of nominees can be found at www.americanmusicawards.com.
The Osbournes will host the awards ceremony, which will air on ABC.
Nominees were compiled with data from music industry trade publication Radio & Records and SoundScan. Ballots sent randomly to 20,000 American households will determine the winners.
This year's AMAs will include the second Coca-Cola New Music Award for best unsigned band or artist in the country. New York's Honeycomb, Nashville's Moe Loughran and Jamesburg, New Jersey's Terell are the finalists for that honor, which includes the opportunity to perform at the ceremony.